Was anyone really bright at school but ended up in low paid jobs / no career?

[Hillsdale]

I was really bright at school. Got A* and Bs in GCSEs and a level then went onto do a vocational degree in a healthcare profession ( think pharmacist but not).

I didn't know what to do and my older siblings and parents chose my degree for me.

To cut a long story short, I suffered from social anxiety and severe confidence and esteem issues. I hated every minute of uni and at the end of my degree i couldn't even find a work training placement which I needed in order to become fully qualified after having attended so many interviews. My mental health was really bad and I felt like and was told I was a failure.

I gave up and have just done low paid nmw admin jobs. ( Not that there is anything wrong with those jobs).

But I just can't shake the feeling off of being a failure and not being able to fulfill my potential and used my head in something that I could have been good at.

I don't know what I'm saying really but just wondered if anyone else has been in a similar situation.

Yep. Very bright and very quiet so nobody gave a shit that I had significant social difficulties and I was extremely isolated. I got picked on so I daydreamed and hid in toilets a lot and once I had the freedom of university, I stopped attending completely and eventually dropped out. Now I'm completely stuck and bored out of my mind in retail.

I strongly disagree with the 'it's never too late' stuff. I can't get a degree because I'd have to fund the tuition fees myself so that leaves 'working my way up'. The obvious issue with that being that I don't have the social skills and I can't get interviews for entry level roles anyway. Dress stuff up as 'transferable skills' as much as you want, I still stack shelves for a living and interviewers know that anybody can do it.

In hindsight, I should've got onto a decent apprenticeship scheme in IT/science/engineering at 16 when I was young enough for people to cut me some slack about my social skills but there's nothing I can do about that now.

I know, so many schemes for young people, and nothing for people like us.